CRC Wide Pan Front Adaptors, Wide Pan Gear Mesh
I have finished installing the front adaptors and can now give you some insights into their design which might be puzzling at first. If you look at the second photo you can see that they have generous adjustability for front width. Right now they are set for about 218 mm. They can be made narrower by about 3 mm per side with the small screws. This brings you to 212mm. This is the width of the front of an almost unused RC10L which I measured. This is a good width for standard GTP style Wide Pan Car bodies. Photo 5. These bodies will also accept up to about 220 mm front ends by cutting a little more of the wheel arches out.
There is also a second set of holes to make the width up to 235 mm which makes the front wider than the back. This is useful if you or your group wants to use 235 mm Nitro bodies that were once made for 2 wheel drive 1/8 scale cars. I tried one of these bodies and had too much steering traction. They are starting to use this width body over in Europe for open mod. Maybe Pro-ten can give us a body update from over there.
If you look at the first photo, these are Aluminum Adaptors that I made from billet with a simple task but a fairly complex shape. They are thick on the inner part and thinner near the outboard end. Much like a leaf spring pack. They also angle upward to reduce the need for a small ride height spacer that might always be needed. And so we see the same piece in the second photo in graphite. Three full thicknesses of plate at the chassis including the chassis plate, reducing over distance to a thin but narrow single plate. This provides good stiffness with light weight. The middle plate is an important stiffener. The aluminum part was developed and machined by myself on the Pantoura thread. I also found by widening a narrow chassis and comparing it to several wide chassis that I personally prefered the flex of the narrow chassis on our outdoor asphalt track. I had better cornering traction. I am pleased and maybe mirrored here.
The third picture shows an early widening attempt on a narrow pod using a wide pan hub with an extra spacer inboard of the spur. You notice the poor gear mesh. An extended pinion from Corally or recently from Robinson racing would correct the mesh but would strain the motor bearing more than normal. We ate up quite a few bearings. The fourth picture is a solution that CRC has used in the Widening kit. The spur stays in the same place. The weight balance is perfect, and the gear mesh is perfect as well, at the expense of some extra rotational inertia. More history as I proceed.
John